DCF works with Freedom Ride to add horse program for foster kids

Hoping to heal some of the emotional wounds caused by humans, Floridachild-welfare advocates are announcing a new scholarship fund today that will allow children in foster care to enroll in a therapeutic horseback-riding program.

"This is something we've wanted to do for a long time," said Carrie Hoeppner, media relations director for the Florida Department of Children and Families Central Region, who came up with the idea. "We know that animals serve a very therapeutic purpose for many of us, and sometimes youth in foster care have extremely limited interaction with animals, especially horses."

To start, the program will focus on foster children with disabilities in Orange County. DCF has partnered with the Orlando-based Freedom Ride, a nonprofit that provides therapeutic riding to adults and children age 4 and up who have Spina Bifida, developmental disabilities, autism, Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities and brain injuries.

Though there have been efforts to increase opportunities for able-bodied foster children in recent years — including programs that help them land summer jobs, attend camps and afford such things as proms and yearbooks — opportunities specifically for children with disabilities have been few. Yet, as Hoeppner noted, their challenges are often the greatest.

"These children have often lost so much — not just familiar surroundings and family, but the fuzzy, furry family pets they used to have too," she said. "That human-animal bond has been broken."

Freedom Ride's executive director, Marianne Gray, said nurturing a sense of trust is one of the program's chief goals.

"They're big animals and powerful and strong, and these particular horses are very special," she said. "They lend a sort of tranquil spirit to the rider, and I think they can sense the vulnerability of the children and the need to protect them."

She has seen that bond spark a metamorphosis in young riders.

"I remember one girl, about 10 years old, who was selectively mute," Gray said. "She would only talk to her family — and that was limited. After a while, we saw her whispering to this horse. And before we knew it she started talking to the volunteers. And now you can't stop her."

The horses are carefully selected for temperament, and most of them are in their 20s — the equivalent of retirement age for a horse.

At an initial event May 6, about 20 foster children will meet the horses and spend time just petting, grooming and even finger-painting on the animals' coat. Then, depending on how much money is raised, some of the kids will go on to riding classes for a semester.

Doorstep Delivery, Freedom Ride and Community Based Care of Central Florida are all accepting funds for the scholarship program on their websites. The local franchise group of Panera Bread has promised to match all donations made through May 13. Scholarships run $35 per session up to $500 for an entire semester. Contributions can be made at cbccfl.org/.

"We don't anticipate that every child will want to get on a horse," said Hoeppner, herself a horse owner. "But our goal is to raise at least $10,000 to take as many children as we can through at least one semester. I really want to make this happen for them."

CEO Glen Casel of Community Based Care of Central Florida, the nonprofit that contracts with DCF to manage the foster-care system, called the idea "terrific." Of the 350 children in foster homes in Orange County, up to a third struggle with mental-health issues and about seven percent have physical disabilities.

"The solutions for children vary," he said. "But our goal is to give them every opportunity we would give our own children."